


Nothing to Lose but Chains

by Mistfather



Category: RWBY
Genre: (kinda), Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amischnee, Cat Burglar, Drama & Romance, F/F, F/M, Ladybug - Freeform, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Moralswap, Multi, Purrloined Petals, Purrloined Petals Endgame, Revolution!AU, gemstones, ongoing series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-23 01:07:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13776453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mistfather/pseuds/Mistfather
Summary: Vale fought alongside Atlas in the Great War, seeking to suppress art and emotional depiction to protect their people from the emotion-feeding Grimm. Now, the repercussions have changed their society: divisions between the wealthy and the poor, the strong and the weak, the Human and the Faunus, and the Kingdoms and the outsiders seem to define every aspect of their life. Ruby Rose, born and raised on the better half of these divisions, wants to be a Huntress, to help people and make the world a better place, but can a simple, honest soul hold true through the world-shattering revelation that the people she grew up admiring, the way of living she was taught, is wrong?A few details changed early on about the world of Remnant, and suddenly the story is a very different one. Revolution!/Moralswap! AU





	1. The First Steps

**Author's Note:**

> Legends. Stories passed through time. Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting exploits of heroes and villains, quick to forget each one’s frailty and tenuousness. Man, born from the dust of the world, was strong, wise, and resourceful, but they were born to a world that would not forgive them easily. Creatures of destruction and chaos, the creatures of Grimm, preyed on Mankind, feeding on them and all of their creations. They were left balancing on a precarious edge, trapped in a struggle to merely survive, until the smallest spark of hope was discovered. A tool to ignite change and force the opportunity to thrive. This tool, a condensed crystal of nature’s wrath itself, was named Dust. Power in hand, Mankind carved their own order among the chaos of the Grimm, building civilization, strength, and a form of peace in their lives. The victory over chaos was hard-won and the peace was bought through much suffering, but it shall not be lost, not with so much done to uphold it.  
> But is there a cost to peace that is too high? Can one go too far in an effort to preserve what never truly should be?

Roman Torchwick waited quietly in the alley. He felt exposed, especially considering what they were about to pull off. He'd offered a few other suggestions on where to strike- at the refinery itself, on the docks, or even a classic train robbery, but without their ally’s support, this was the best they could manage with what they had: a few hired goons, a fast getaway vehicle, and a bold plan to send a message while getting a little additional supply.  _ The careful tactics and management of a war, somehow, resulting in robbing an armored truck in the middle of the night. Genius. _ His role in all this was relatively straightforward; Roman Torchwick had a hell of a face, and a good mind behind it. He’d be keeping the guard’s attention, as well as making sure his help stayed in line, and, should a problem arise, as much of the operation could be salvaged as possible. As he stepped into the middle of the open road, a small part of him was aware of just how insane this plan was, and a corresponding part wondered how the hell he’d gotten mixed up in this. He pushed them both down as the truck came into view, aimed the cane he was carrying at the windshield, and fired.

A small flashing red canister, with much more inertia than a Dust-propelled bullet, crashed through the reinforced glass, bounced off the hard steel of the cab, then opened, releasing a thick smoke irritant. Roman carefully stepped out of the way as the truck swerved, breaking hard as the security officer panicked. Both guards pushed open their doors, hacking the thick smoke from their lungs, only for two men in black each, Roman’s “help”, to tie their hands and take their weapons. Another, using a specialized cutting tool, carved an opening into the back of the truck. Inside were cylinders and cases marked with a stylistic snowflake. Dust. Refined, not exactly worth its weight in gold, but to some, worth far more than that. His team began unloading the Dust into their own cases, removing any possible tracking devices, and managed to make headway into filling their supply, before one of his goons spotted a kid being a bit too interested in their work.

Roman kept an ear out on the situation, only getting a brief glance at the girl.

“Hey, you. What are you doing here?”

“What are  _ you _ doing here?“

“What does it look like?”

“...are you… robbing them?”

“...Yes?”

“Ah.”

There was a shout from behind, followed very quickly by a goon flying past him, painfully landing into a pile of canisters. He turned to see the girl walk closer, unfolding a steely grey and black box into a giant scythe. Silver eyes flashed at him, a calm grin on her face.

“Okay…” he muttered, looking at his remaining team. 8 men. She couldn’t be old enough yet to enter Beacon, sixteen at the most, but students needed remarkable skills to even apply for orientation, and she held that scythe with a dangerous familiarity. He motioned his men forward. “Get her.”

While they were fighting, he managed to fit enough Dust into a single carrying case to make this whole fiasco break even, at least, and switch out his cane’s ammunition for something more on-par with the young Aura wielder. He stepped out of the truck just as the back of the girl’s scythe slammed into the last man, causing him to crumple and roll up to Roman’s feet, groaning slightly.

“You were worth every cent, truly you were.” he muttered, looking up to meet the girl’s eyes. He slowly took aim with his cane. “Well, kid, it’s been fun, but I believe this is where we part ways.” He squeezed the trigger, a bright red missile screaming towards her. With a loud crack, she shot into the air, where she twisted the blade to block a second shot. With nothing to ground her, the impact knocked her backwards, allowing him a brief moment where he could escape and call his driver. He dialed her in, and put his scroll to his ear.

“It went red?”

“A bit” Roman chuckled slightly, adrenaline still surging in him. “Rooftop pickup. I’ll buy you time to warm things up.”

“Understood.” The scroll hung up, and he slid it into his pocket, reaching for a nearby ladder with his free hand.

Behind him, the same  _ CRACK _ of the girl’s scythe sounded. He managed to climb to the roof before she could catch up with him. Her own voice, young but sharp, shouted to him. “Hey, stop!” 

“Persistent little…” He turned to her. “Listen, kid, I’m sure you’re just doing your civil duty and all, but how about we both just call it a day, leave with what we’ve got, and pretend this whole fiasco never happened?” She probably knew what he was doing. Or thought she knew, anyway. 

“Not likely,” she called back, honest-to-Light posing with that black and silver death blade across her back. “You kinda robbed an armored truck.”

He waved a dismissive hand. “it's not like they can't afford it. What's a truck compared to freighters bringing in Dust by the shipload every week?”

“And the drivers? The guards? Dispatchers and Guard Officers?” 

“Not really my fault. Schnee could support minor situations like this. Does he, or does he make ‘examples’ out of them?” 

“That doesn't make what you're doing right.” she spun the scythe forwards. “And it doesn't mean I won't stop you.”

Roman heard the familiar whine of VTOL blades coming in from below. He smiled “I guess it doesn't, does it? Well, this might.” he tossed a dark red crystal to her feet, following it with a shot from his cane. As he climbed onto the rising ship, however, an itch on the back of his neck urged him to turn back around.

In front of the girl stood a figure in dark green armor, a baton held in salute. An Enforcer- and from the gold stripes, a high-ranked one- had gotten involved. 

Shit.

“ENFORCER!” he shouted to his pilot, switching places with her. Right. Flying a small aircraft. How did that work, again?

An impact rocked the ship.  _ Grimmspawn are they doing back there?! _ He looked out the cockpit in time to see a lance of stone fragments fly towards his partner and yanked on the stick, deflecting the stone with the ship’s frame. More attacks flew from both sides, almost impaling him at least once before his partner gave him the cue to make a break for a safe range. He called back to her “So, we in the clear?”

“I distracted her by targeting the kid,” she said, striding forward to slump in her seat.”So, the take?”

“Not as much as we’d hoped. Thankfully, we didn’t pay for those goons in advance, and they won’t exactly be in a position to collect. Add this” he tapped the case full of Dust canisters “And we do a good bit better than breaking even.”

“Good.” She hesitated, thinking over the course of events. “She was tracking us, wasn’t she?”

“Probably. That kid might’ve just saved our assets from having an actual Enforcer or, even worse, a full team, come down on them. We’ll just chalk this up to dumb luck and exercise more caution when choosing targets.”

“I think ‘paranoia’ is the more appropriate word.” she sighed. “Still, that’s one win in our column. How prepared are we for stepping up the operation.”

“Just waiting on your little friend of a friend to show up with that side of the bargain. Shouldn’t be too long, I do have a certain…”

“Smug assholery?”

“...Showmanship that appeals to a lot of them.” He finished, eyeing her cheeky smirk. “Either way, your little ‘mission’ is going to really kick off this upcoming year.”


	2. The Witch, The Wizard, and The Flower

Glynda watched the young girl in the interrogation room. Ruby Rose, daughter of Taiyang Xiao Long and Summer Rose. Both were former Guardians, one retired, the other… 

She looked up from the Infoscroll. The resemblance was uncanny, like a carbon copy of her. Same passionate drive too, if stopping an armored car robbery was any indication. Terrifyingly less common sense, however. 

“So, this is the girl who botched your investigation?” the voice was calm and pleasant - it always was - and seemed rather pleased with the circumstances. She looked to Ozpin, her frustration clear on her face. 

“I couldn't very well tail him and protect a civilian, sir. And even if she is relatively well trained, that's still what she is.”  _ and I couldn't let someone so young get hurt to catch some minor thug. _ She looked back to the scroll, pulling up some images. “Some nearby cams did manage to get a picture of his pilot’s face, however. She matches Qrow’s description and now we have something for face recognition. However, with the powers she has…”

“It might be rather pointless.” he sighed, leaning against the one-way glass. “you know, there's only four years of difference between a civilian and a Guardian.”

“Four years of hard work and education, yes. She still has two years of combat school to take.” Glynda knew what he was thinking. She'd just approved a Xiao Long for the Academy, and this was hardly a coincidence of names. “... however, if she were willing, Peach and I could subsidize most of the non-combat aspects, and she's already head of her class. A little extra tuition from me and she'd qualify.”

He smiled. “Glynda Goodwitch, you are a remarkable woman.”

“Good remarks, I'm assuming.” 

That got a chuckle out of him. “So, how should we break the news to her. You play the hardliner and tell her she botched the investigation, and then I come in with my offer?” 

“I think a little reprimand would do it; no need to tell her about the investigation itself. And bring cookies; Summer had a fondness for them, might as well see if it's genetic.”

Ozpin nodded, then stepped back. “don't scare her too badly, ” he called as he walked off. “I'll be back in a few minutes.”

Glynda prepared herself to put a little fear in Ruby Rose.  _ Why am I always the bad guy?  _ With that thought, she opened the door, baton in hand, and stepped in. “Ruby Rose. I hope you're aware of what you've done.” 

Ruby Rose waited in the questioning room. It wasn’t big, just enough room for about five people, plus the table, but the glare from the light overhead made the walls harder to see, giving it a feeling of… the unknown. She shivered, wishing she still had Crescent Rose at her side,  _ but I guess they don’t let people have giant sniper scythes in the questioning room. I mean, it makes sense when you think about it, if this is where they take criminals and stuff to get confessions. Still, it would be nice to have her back, just so I have something comfortable with me. Not a lot of people would call Crescy comfortable, though, so maybe they didn’t think of that. Do real Guardians think their- _

With a quick slam, the door opened and the Enforcer from before marched in, a tablet in her hand. She was tall, with a very thin build that seemed less imposing outside of her body armor, piercing green eyes that more than made up for it, and stylized curls and ringlets of pale blond hair that framed a face almost feyish in in its sharpness. Ruby tried to peek at what was on the scroll, but didn’t have the time as the device was shut down as the woman-  _ she didn’t seem as scary earlier, even in armor- _ began to speak.

“Ruby Rose. I hope you’re aware of what you’ve done.”

The girl felt her heart drop as the woman began pacing.

“You deliberately engaged with a group of criminals in the middle of a robbery without any idea if hostages had been taken.”  _ Of course, I completely forgot. _ “And, despite a professional Enforcer taking over, you refused to leave the danger area, hindering me in the engagement and letting the thief get away.”  _ She’s right, I should have just left then. I couldn’t even get out of the way _ . “Your actions from tonight will have severe repercussions. You put innocent lives in greater danger because of your vigilantism.”

“They started it.” she muttered into her hood, sinking lower in your seat.

The Enforcer's voice softened as the click of her heels halted on the other side of the table. “If it were up to me, this wouldn’t go beyond escorting you home. With a pat on the back…”

She looked up at the woman.  _ She thought I did that well? _

“... And a slap on the wrist.” Her baton, still in her hand, lashed out, slapping the table in front of Ruby and causing her to flinch back. “But,” she admitted, a touch of resignation in her voice, “it’s not entirely up to me. There’s someone here who would like to meet you.” With that, she took a step to the side as a tall, thin man in green walked in, setting a plate of-  _ of cookies?- _ in front of her. Ruby looked at him, his hair a faded grey, even though he seemed far too young for that to be natural.

“Ruby Rose,” He spoke with familiarity, the voice reminding her of the man her uncle would talk to so often.  _ Ozpin. That’s his name. _ “You…” he leaned forward, his hair carving black shadows across his face from the light, “...have silver eyes.”

“Uh…”

“So,” He said, straightening as the Enforcer behind him displayed camera footage from the fight, her flipping around with the immense scythe in hand, “where did you learn to fight like that?”

“S-Signal Academy.” She managed to say, glancing at the cookies on the table.

With a brief smile and a nod at her implied question, he continued. “They taught you how to do  _ that _ as part of the curriculum? To swing around one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?”

She picked up one of the cookies, the smell of chocolate causing her mouth to water as she nibbled at it before responding. “One teacher in particular.”

“I see.” Ozpin paused, in thought. “It’s just, I’ve only ever seen one other scythe wielder like that, a dusty old crow-”

Ruby jumped at the name “oh, yeah, that’s my uncl-” she stopped as she remembered the food in her mouth, swallowing before starting over. “Sorry, that’s my uncle Qrow. He’s a, uh, teacher at Signal. I was complete garbage before he took me in, and now I’m all… I’m a lot more capable, sir.”  _ close, Ruby, you almost looked like an idiot in front of them. _

“So I’ve noticed.” The smile returned to his face, “And you decided to attend this school meant for preparing peacekeepers because…”

“Well, I want to be a Guardian.” That was true, but… it didn’t feel completely right to her.

“You want to fight monsters?”

The words felt clearer to her now as she latched onto her chain of thought. “I want to help people. I only have a few more years at Signal, and then I’m going to apply to Beacon. You see, my sister’s starting there this year, and she’s trying to become a Guardian, and I’m trying to become one because I want to help people. And my parents always told me to help others, so I thought ‘eh, might as well, make a career out of it.’ Heh heh, I mean, the police are alright, but Guardians are just so much more cool and exciting, you know?!” She froze, realizing how excited she’d gotten.  _ Oh no, please tell me I didn’t make a dork out of myself in front of them. _

Ozpin sat across from her, the same smile flashing once more. “Do you recognize who I am?”

_ Okay, they didn’t notice.  _ “You’re Professor Ozpin; you’re the Headmaster at Beacon.”

He gave a brief chuckle. “Hello.”

“Nice to meet you, uh, sir.”

“And you want to come to my school?”

She paused at this. It was clear, he was offering something, maybe something big.  _ Maybe he would accept me now? _ In a moment, she reconciled with what this would mean, the changes this would have on, well, every part of her life. She would leave her friends behind, she would have to study harder than anyone else just to keep pace,

_ I’d be in the same year as Yang. _

She decided. “More than anything.”

A silent conversation passed between Ozpin and the Enforcer, with her acquiescing quickly.

“Well, alright.”


End file.
